Union interparlementaire inter-parliamentary union
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- Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President
- Mr Manuel Alba NAVARRO (Spain)
- ‘a model parliament communicating with its citizens’” Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President
- II. Case 1: Legislative Support through the collection of people’s opinions
- III. Case 2: The Visitor Center and the Info Center of the National Assembly
- IV. Case 3: Providing an easy and convenient Information Service
- Mr Gherardo CASINI (Global Centre, Observer)
- Dr V.K. AGNIHOTRI (India)
- Ms Mampiti F. NCHAPI (Lesotho)
- 6. Examination of the draft agenda for the next meeting (Panama, April 2011) Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President
- 7. Closure of the Session Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President
Auditor-General The Auditor-General (AG) is the supreme audit institution of the Country. The AG draws its mandate from Section 188 of the Constitution and the Public Audit Act of 2004. The main mandate of the AG is to audit and report on the accounts, financial statements and financial management of government institutions and agencies. These include both national and provincial legislatures. In line with this Constitutional provision, section 58 of the Act provides for the auditing of the annual financial statements by the AG. The AG’s independence is guaranteed by the Constitution, and it provides an independent opinion of the annual financial statements of Parliament. The AG’s report is incorporated into the annual reports and tabled to Parliament for consideration. The AG’s report is central in overseeing the financial management of Parliament. In the same way in which AG’s reports assist SCOPA in conducting oversight over public funds, the AG’s report on financial statements of Parliament is refereed to the oversight mechanism to follow up on any audit queries. It assists in providing substantive evidence on the management of parliamentary funds.
The Parliamentary budget process embraces all the constitutional values and practice that promote good governance. It is established in a core legislative framework that provides clear guidelines during the planning, implementation and reporting of budgets. The principles of transparency and accountability are embodied in this process and necessary structures are put in place to oversee the budget. The alignment of programme performance to budget performance and proper reporting frameworks allow for thorough scrutiny of budgets. Moreover, the clear separation of powers between the Executive and the Legislature facilitates clear accountability lines and oversight over the Parliamentary budget. Sources Andy Norton & Diane Elson (2002), What’s behind the budget? politics, rights and accountability in the budget process. June, 2002 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act No. 108 of 1996 Financial Management of Parliament Act, No.10 of 2009 Marshall Hoffman & Delaine McCullough (undated), 80 percent of the governments don’t account for spending. Article downloaded at www.openudgetindex.org National Treasury (2007), Framework for managing programme performance information. May, 2007 Public Finance Management Act, No. 01 of 1999” Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President, thanked Mr Zingile DINGANI for his communication and invited members present to put questions to him. Mr Austin ZVOMA (Zimbabwe) asked about another recent development in the South African Parliament, the establishment of a Budget Office. He asked if an independent body evaluated Parliament’s budgetary requirements, and whether Parliament’s accounting officer could be brought before the Public Accounts Committee where poor financial management or maladministration was suspected. Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President, asked if the Auditor General audited other organs of the state as well as the Parliament, and also for further information about the annual report described by Mr Dingani. Mr Emmanuel ANYIMADU (Ghana) asked for more information about the relationship between the accounting officer and the Treasury of Parliament. Mr Abdelhamid Badis BELKAS (Algeria) asked how the requirement for transparency in public spending was put into practice and enforced. Mr Zingile DINGANI said that the establishment of the Budget Office, whose role was to analyse the State Budget and related documents, was a separate matter. There was no external body that determined the budgetary requirements of Parliament – this would not be constitutionally appropriate. Parliament’s spending was audited yearly by the Auditor General: Parliament needed to be run to the same standards as other public authorities. The accounting officer did not appear before the Public Accounts Committee, but reported to the Parliamentary Oversight Committee. Where the auditor raised difficult issues, Parliament responded to those issues through action plans, but Parliament had received unqualified audit opinions during the past four years. The relationship between the accounting officer and the Treasury of Parliament was regulated under the Act he had described. Financial information was published monthly. Mr Manuel Alba NAVARRO (Spain) said that national Parliaments’ control over national budgets was less complete than it had once been. The financial crisis had shown that some recent budgets had been based on figures that were not entirely real. The international markets also had a major input now into determining budgetary considerations, despite not being accountable to public opinion. Mr Zingile DINGANI referred to the Financial and Fiscal Commission which considered the State’s overall borrowing requirement in the context of a fiscal plan and made this information available to Parliament. The impact of the recession had been less severe in South Africa than in many other countries. On a different topic, he invited colleagues to participate in the World e-Parliament conference and Africa Parliament Knowledge Network meeting which were taking place in Midrand, South Africa, later that month. Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President, thanked Mr Zingile DINGANI for his communication as well as all those members who had put questions to him, and also encouraged attendance at the meetings to be held in Midrand. 4. Communication from Mr KWON Oh Eul, Secretary General of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, on “The realization of ‘a model parliament communicating with its citizens’” Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President, invited Mr KWON Oh Eul, Secretary General of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, to present his communication, as follows: “I. Introduction I am KWON Oh Eul, Secretary General of the Korean National Assembly. I took office in June this year. My special appreciation goes to President Amrani for allowing me to present my first communication at this ASGP session in front of the delegates from around the world. As you know well, the state used to have a hierarchical and vertical relationship with its people rather than a trust-based horizontal one, before the birth of parliamentary democracy. With a representative parliamentary system emerging and parliamentary democracy becoming more universal, public trust towards parliament has been viewed as an important component in establishing a democratic political system. Looking back at the history of the Republic of Korea, a modern form of parliamentary system was introduced right after its Liberation from colonial rule. However, going through a period of military regime after the chaotic experience of founding a nation, Korea remained in the grip of authoritarianism, under which the state was an absolute power to be obeyed. However, the Korean people with their unwavering desire for democracy put an end to the military authoritarianism, followed by an unprecedented achievement of modernization and industrialization. The Korean people increasingly demanded that their parliament, the National Assembly, act as a genuine channel of public will and aspirations. Far from fulfilling people’s wishes, elected representatives ran the National Assembly based on partisan interests, failing to earn trust from citizens. ‘Trust crisis in Parliamentary Politics’ or ‘Communication between Parliament and the People’ are not limited only to Korean politics, but facing all the parliaments around the world, despite differences in degree. Since taking office as Secretary General, I have given precedence to restoring public trust in parliament whose ownership belongs to citizens, while I pay keen attention to the reality of ‘trust crisis’ in parliamentary politics among citizens. In order for the Korean Parliament to win hearts and minds of citizens, I believe that priority should be given to making the Secretariat a well-functioning bridge between citizens and lawmakers who devise policies reflecting people’s wishes, not to mention having professional capacity. To this end, I have asked staffers at the Secretariat not just to build on their expertise, but to act as a channel of communication through which public will is well embodied in legislative activities. I have always emphasized that Secretariat staffers should work hard and diligently behind the scenes to be loved and respected by the general public, irrespective of legislators who receive much of the spotlight and public attention. To achieve this goal, I believe that the National Assembly needs to “be with the people on the very scene of their lives,” while being “open to the public” and “communicative with the people through a two-way exchange of legislative information and people’s opinions.” My communication today deals firstly with legislative support through the collection of people’s opinions, secondly with the roles of ‘the National Assembly Visitor Center’ and ‘the National Assembly Info Center,’ and finally with a communicative National Assembly through the establishment of an easier and more convenient National Assembly Information System. II. Case 1: Legislative Support through the collection of people’s opinions First of all, let me introduce you to an example of legislative support based upon the direct collection of people’s opinions on the ground. As part of its legislative support roles, the National Assembly Secretariat has provided lawmakers with various types of services by, for example, turning their policy ideas into specific bills upon request and by offering them research findings or analysis results on a range of social issues. From my own experiences as a three-term lawmaker before, however, I realized that there was a limit to resolving problems that arise from people’s lives when resorting only to the existing legislative support system with assistance given to individual legislators upon their request. In an effort to address this challenge, I institutionalized the following two measures in legislative support. First, I initiated “the Legislative Support Meeting on Current Issues,” which is held in a city or a region in need of revising plenty of laws and regulations comprehensively. The meeting invites the constituency’s lawmaker, local public officials of the municipality, local media outlets, experts, and local civic groups with a view to listening to the voices of people on the ground and incorporating the discussion results into legislative processes. Last August, the National Assembly held its first such meeting to find ways to promote and develop the city of Pyeongtaek, a city with natural conditions to become an excellent harbor in the vicinity of China, into a central hub of the Pan-Yellow Sea economic bloc. Based on the findings we came up with from the discussions, the Secretariat prepared 10 related revision bills to be incorporated into the legislative processes. In September, the second such meeting was held in Daejeon Metropolitan City, a center for Korea’s science, education and culture, where 5 relevant revision bills came along with our amendment recommendations for these bills’ respective Presidential ordinances, which were sent to the government. My second example is the system of obtaining public opinions through different civic groups. Previously, civic groups set forth their opinions on legislation only in three ways, 1) by submitting legislative petitions through a lawmaker to the National Assembly, 2) by expressing their opinions at public hearings, 3) by submitting their written opinions during the period of advance announcement of legislation. I led the National Assembly to more proactively seek civic groups’ opinions on legislation. To this end, “a system of Opinion Collection from NGOs” was devised to gather opinions not only from various NGOs and expert groups, but from business associations and labor unions, resulting in opinions on about 100 pieces of legislative amendment and enactment and three revision bills of enforcement ordinance submitted to lawmakers. These efforts are designed to incorporate people’s thoughts and ideas from the very scene of their lives faithfully into legislation. III. Case 2: The Visitor Center and the Info Center of the National Assembly Next example of an open National Assembly is the establishment and operation of the National Assembly’s Visitor Center and Info Center. The National Assembly Visitor Center currently runs six zones with different themes, including the Kid Zone which caters to children with many questions on the National Assembly. The Visitor Center provides a one-stop service to visitors by allowing them to see exhibitions associated with the National Assembly’s history, functions and various legislative activities and also to take a hands-on look at the sessions held in the plenary chamber. In the past, the dual operation of the observation at the plenary chamber and the visit to the exhibition caused some inconveniences to citizens. Therefore, we integrated these two operations by setting up the National Assembly Visitor Center and diversified the displayed contents. By keeping the Visitor Center open even on public holidays, citizens can visit the National Assembly whenever they want, resulting in more than 150,000 visitors since February 2010 when the Center was opened. Separate from the Visitor Center within the precincts of the National Assembly, the Info Center was launched in a frequently used subway station for those who cannot pay a direct visit to the National Assembly due to their busy schedules, providing a resting area and information related to the National Assembly. Visitors to the Info Center have access to a host of periodicals and information leaflets published by the National Assembly and to live broadcast of sessions underway in the National Assembly. In addition, citizens can offer legislative ideas and proposals on the spot. To make a visit to the National Assembly more convenient, I led the way to change the previous parking practice by allowing visitors to have priority in using the parking lot within the precincts of the Assembly over Secretariat staff which now uses the external parking space. As such, we spare no effort to enhance the image of an open and accessible National Assembly by making the National Assembly friendlier and approachable to the general public. IV. Case 3: Providing an easy and convenient Information Service Finally, I will touch upon the information provision services with which we give out information on parliamentary activities and legislation and also gather people’s opinions. From the year 2004, the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea has established eight information systems including the Legal Knowledge Information System, letting people know about parliamentary activities. From next year, a “Mobile National Assembly” project will be pushed forward, an advanced form of service provision than the existing Internet-based one, in keeping with the changing patterns of Internet usage by citizens and with the advancement of information and communications technology. The Mobile National Assembly is to upgrade the existing web-based e-Parliament service into a ubiquitous National Assembly service which combines the existing PC-based service with mobile services. With the launch of the Mobile National Assembly service, the current National Assembly information service will be transformed into a ubiquitous service that can be accessed through smart phones, tablet PCs and other mobile devices anytime at any place. The mobile service will also enable citizens to express their support for a specific politician or a political party and to make policy suggestions, thereby acting as direct and indirect channels of communication between the public and the National Assembly. In particular, the Mobile National Assembly service is expected to activate communication with younger generations who are deemed indifferent to politics, encouraging them to more actively participate and helping restore their trust toward parliament. V. Conclusion I have presented you with some examples of the Korean National Assembly’s efforts to restore people’s trust and to realize the ideal parliament with unobstructed communications with the public. A renowned political economist, Francis Fukuyama cited “trust” among society members as a critical element of “social capital” in his book, [Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity]. Personally, I believe that of all the trust among society members, public trust toward parliamentary politics and politicians is the most important, yet hardest to achieve. There is no doubt that an open National Assembly, a communicative National Assembly and a National Assembly close to people on the very scene of their lives are integral to winning public trust in parliament. I do not think a few initiatives or a grandiose parliament building or political rhetoric are enough to regain people’s trust in parliamentary politics within a short period of time. It is my firm belief that small but sincere efforts to listen carefully to people’s voices will take us on the path toward winning back public trust in parliament. The National Assembly Secretariat of the Republic of Korea will continue to make endless efforts to restore people’s trust in parliament through seamless communications with the general public.” Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President, thanked Mr KWON Oh Eul for his communication, which anticipated the conference being held the following day on strengthening links between Parliament and people. The President invited members present to put questions to Mr Kwon. Mr André GAGNON (Canada) described a school programme in Canada that for 15 years had required every school to spend some time each year ensuring that children understood Parliament. Parliament had a programme of teacher training to ensure that they could pursue this programme effectively. He asked at what point parliamentarians had been consulted in the programme described by Mr Kwon. Mr Gherardo CASINI (Global Centre, Observer) noted the growing trend worldwide for everyone to have a mobile phone. One of the biggest challenges for Parliaments was that citizens were not familiar with the legislative process: had this challenge been addressed in Korea? He also asked if there were plans to measure the impact of the strategy, and if so, how. He thanked all ASGP members for providing information for the Global Centre’s World e-Parliament Report. Dr V.K. AGNIHOTRI (India) said that in India any citizen could petition any public authority, and that a Committee on Petitions existed in the Rajya Sabha to consider these petitions. He asked if similar provision existed in the Republic of Korea. Mr Ashfaque HAMID (Bangladesh) asked where the meetings with citizens described by Mr Kwon took place. Mr Wigberto QUINTERO (Panama) spoke of a worldwide political crisis, in which citizens felt that elected politicians did not always represent their interests. He asked if there were provisions for or pressure for direct democracy in Korea as well. Mr KWON Oh Eul said that meetings were held around the country following consultation with local Members of Parliament. Individual parliamentarians listened to the voices of the people and translated their ideas into legislation. The biggest challenge for parliamentarians was indeed that their activities were not visible; the role of the parliamentary secretariat was to help this situation to change. Citizens could, through parliamentarians, make proposals for legislation, and a committee considered these proposals. However, citizens could not always find out about the progress being made by their petition. Local meetings were organised to try to help address this. Meetings were held all around the country. Citizens could also come to the Assembly itself. Korea had a highly sophisticated and advanced e-Parliament system. Ms Mampiti F. NCHAPI (Lesotho) asked how members of the National Assembly were involved in the meetings described by Mr Kwon. Mr KWON Oh Eul said that Korean parliamentarians met with citizens themselves in person. Their involvement was more in policy-making than in law-making. The secretariat was better able to answer questions that citizens had about law-making. Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President, thanked Mr KWON Oh Eul for his communication as well as all those members who had put questions to him. 5. Administrative and financial questions Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President, proposed the approval of the draft budget for 2011. The draft budget for 2011 was approved. 6. Examination of the draft agenda for the next meeting (Panama, April 2011) Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President, read the draft Orders of the Day for the next session in Panama (Saturday 16 – Wednesday 20 April 2011) which had been approved by the Executive Committee: Possible subjects for general debate:
Moderator: Ms Claressa SURTEES, Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives of Australia
Moderator: Dr V K AGNIHOTRI, Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha of India
Moderator: Dr Ulrich SCHÖLER, Deputy Secretary General of the German Bundestag
Moderator: Mr Alain DELCAMP, Secretary General of the French Senate Communications
Other items
The Orders of the Day were agreed to. 7. Closure of the Session Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, President, thanked the interpreters, the staff of the IPU in charge of the organisation of the conference and the members of the Executive Committee. The sitting rose at 11.48 am. 1 US Military Dictionary (2002) The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Oxford University Press, Inc. 2 Frederick M. Kaiser, Congressional Oversight, Order Code 97-936 GOV 3 Of its own kind 4 Anne Lynch and Barbara Allan (2005) (vid. in the case of Spain Javier GOMÁ LANZÓN “Ejemplaridad pública”. Ed. Taurus, 2009). 5 “Guidelines and Principles of Drafting the Council of Federation Events Agenda during the Spring (Autumn) Session”. Approved by the Upper Chamber (Minutes N14, dated 13.07.2010) 6 Financial Management of Parliament Act (2009) 7 Ibid 8 National Treasury (2007) 9 Andy Norton & Diane Elson (2002) 10 Marshall Hoffman & Delaine McCullough 11 Ibid 12 The Constitution Act (1996) 13 Financial Management of Parliament Act (2009) 14 Constitution Act (1996) Directory: sites -> default -> files -> documents documents -> North Mankato Taylor Library documents -> In the Red and Brown Water documents -> - documents -> Cbp and Trade Automated Interface Requirements Appendix: pga december 22, 2015 documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Mobile audio/video recording systems documents -> The south australian government gazette documents -> All public acts appearing in this gazette are to be considered official, and obeyed as such documents -> Plymouth University Academic Partnerships Cornwall College Camborne Programme Quality Handbook for Download 469.13 Kb. Share with your friends:
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